Abstract
Changes in irrigation water-use efficiency are related closely to agricultural development. Clarifying the driving factors of irrigation water-use efficiency change at different agricultural development stages is beneficial for buffering the contradiction between the protection of water resources and massive agricultural water consumption. It also has theoretical and application value when it comes to elucidating the driving characteristics of spatial changes in irrigation water-use efficiency observed among the different provinces of China. This paper analyzes driving factors of irrigation water-use change based on a study of literature and a field survey. It selects 21 indices from five aspects of climatic change, resource endowment, economic situation, technological level, and management mode as the system of driving factors for irrigation water-use change. This article then uses statistical data on economic and social development in the 31 provinces of China in 2009, and applies the principal component analysis (PCA) method to extract the main driving factors affecting irrigation water-use efficiency change. After calculation of factor scores, clustering analysis is conducted on the 31 provinces to explore regional differences among the driving factors of irrigation water-use efficiency change. The results show that these can be attributed to the factors of agricultural economic development, water-saving irrigation technology, water resource endowment, and dissipation. The 31 provinces can be divided into five types: agricultural economy strong driving type; agricultural economy dominant type; industrial economy dominant type; agriculture strong development type; and coordinated driving type. In highly agricultural provinces, mature irrigation district management and water-saving measures influence the efficiency of irrigation water-use, making these strong positive driving factors. In highly industrial provinces, changes in irrigation water-use efficiency are mainly driven by economic development and structural adjustment, making these weak driving factors.
Highlights
Agricultural water use is an important form of Chinese water resource consumption and occupies a large proportion of total water consumption for economic development
Based on data about driving factors collected from multiple perspectives and assessing the irrigation water use efficiencies from 31 provinces of China, the purpose of our study is to identify the distinct irrigation water-use types of Chinese provinces using cluster analysis
The high demand for grain production and the serious shortage of water resources caused by a large population are the objective reality faced by China’s agricultural development
Summary
Agricultural water use is an important form of Chinese water resource consumption and occupies a large proportion of total water consumption for economic development. Inter-sector competition for water intensifies as society and economy develops, greatly increasing demand for industrial and domestic water, as well as demand for water for ecological remediation. The proportion of agricultural water-use among total water. Water 2017, 9, 759 consumption decreased from 97.1% in early 1949 to about 69% in 2015, and may decrease to 60% in [1]. Because China has to produce more grain for its large population, it will need to promote greater utilization of agricultural water resources, and agricultural water demand will continue to increase. The sustainable development of agriculture faces severe challenges [2], and water conservation is one of the key measures to ease the pressure of current agricultural water demand
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